Books about religion: a list of the best works, the main idea, reviews

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

For many centuries people have been thinking about issues of religion and talking about faith in the Lord and its role in human life. In order to pass on the accumulated wisdom to their descendants, they described their knowledge in sacred, scientific and artistic books.

Books on the history of world religions and their main idea

Books about religion reveal the history of religious teachings that have influenced the minds and worldview of people since ancient times. The purpose of the books presented below is to consider the world religions from the moment of their inception, the stages of their development and the main tenets.

"The History of Faith and Religious Ideas" by M. Eliade is a fundamental study in the field of the history of religion. The book chronologically sets out religious ideas, which the author skillfully combined with an understanding of the diversity of life of different peoples around the world.

The main idea of the monumental work of M. Eliade is that every belief carries the concept of truth, meaning and being. Faith in the Lord is inseparable from human life.

Famous workBritish philosopher and spiritual teacher Douglas Harding is devoted to the description of religious teachings, consideration of their connection with science and human life. The author writes about the commonality of many beliefs, the dogmas and canons of which were borrowed from each other.

Reading a book by Douglas Harding makes the reader think about his spiritual beginning, find his place in this world.

Holy books of world religions

Holy books are the main source of religious knowledge. The central place in them is given to the description of rituals and ceremonies, norms of human behavior in everyday life, family life and other areas. Most of the sacred texts are in the public domain. Reading them enriches the inner world and contributes to the spiritual and mental development of the individual.

Books of world religions:

• Revered book in Judaism, compiled in Hebrew - Tanakh.
• The basis of Christian doctrine is the Bible, which had a great influence on the culture of countries that profess Christianity.
• The holy book of the religion of Islam - the Quran.
• The most revered body of Buddhist texts is the Tipitaka.

Judaism

Tanakh consists of three parts: Torah, Neviim, Ketuvim. The text of the book was finalized by the Masoretes (Jewish scribes) by the 8th century AD. The Tanakh describes the creation of the world and man, provides the Divine covenant and commandments, as well as the history of the Jewish people from the time of its emergence to the beginning of the period of the Second Temple in Jerusalem.

Philosophical and religious ideasJudaism subsequently served as the basis for the formation of world teachings with numerous followers - Christianity and Islam.

Christianity

The Scriptures were written by apostles and prophets. The Old Testament and the New Testament are two parts of the Christian Bible, knowledge of which is constantly expanding, thanks to the scientific research of linguists, historians and philologists.

The Old Testament is a collection of religious works compiled between the 13th and 2nd centuries. BC. The book includes instructive stories and myths for believers, events of the past, restored by modern scientists.

The deeds of Jesus and his disciples are written in the New Testament, which was canonized by the Christian Church. They provide key episodes from the life of Christ and tell about the exploits of his disciples.

Islam

The Qur'an is a guide for believers sent down by Allah. The very existence of this book is one of the testimonies of the prophetic mission of Muhammad and the completion of a series of divine messages. In our time, the Quran retains its great importance as a code of daily human behavior.

The early texts of the holy book date back to the period of the 7th-8th centuries AD. According to orthodox Islamic teachings, only the Koran written in Arabic is considered sacred. Observance of the precepts of the Prophet, serving Allah is the main goal of every Muslim. Man must resist temptationworld around and lead a life pleasing to Allah.

Buddhism

From Sanskrit, Tripitaka means "three baskets". The translation of the title corresponds to the division of the holy book into three sections. Initially, religious and philosophical texts were written on the leaves of palm trees, and the scrolls were kept in wicker baskets. Several versions of the Tripitaka are known. The most popular among believers is the Tipitaka, a collection of texts in the Pali language.

The followers of the Buddha realized the value of Tripitaka for future generations, so they made a lot of efforts to convey to the descendants of the teachings of the legendary spiritual teacher. The Tripitaka includes precepts for the behavior of members of the community, descriptions of episodes from the life of the Buddha, and information about the history of India. An important place in the book is given to the story of the meaning of Buddhist teachings.

The Guardian's Best Books About God

In addition to scientific literature and sacred books, there are also fiction and popular science works, in the center of which is a person's faith in the Lord. The following is the top 5 popular books on religion according to the British edition of The Guardian:

1. On the pages of one of F. M. Dostoevsky's "The Brothers Karamazov" gives reasoning about the eternal struggle between good and evil, the divine and the devilish in the human soul. The author draws readers' attention to moral and philosophical questions, the answers to which he tries to find in the course of the story. In the bookthe concepts of sin, compassion and mercy are considered. In reviews of the novel, readers note Dostoevsky's gift to penetrate into the human soul and, through the prism of human life, describe the eternal search for truth and faith.
2. John Updike, in Roger's Tales, attempts to prove the existence of God using computer simulations. The narrative contains dialogues about the origin of the Universe, the will of chance and the patterns of distribution. In their reviews of the book, readers write that D. Updike was able to reveal the essence of man and describe the fears and vices of modern humanity without embellishment.
3. The book by Iris Murdoch "The Time of Angels" is dedicated to a person's attempts to gain faith in God, to find himself in this world. With subtle psychologism, the author tells about the lives of the inhabitants of an English house, revealing to readers the fears and vices of literary characters, under the influence of which they committed cruel acts. The reviews for this novel note the high writing skills of A. Murdoch, thanks to which the reader is completely immersed in a fictional world and feels like a part of it.
4. A special place in the work of Nikos Kazantzakis is occupied by the infamous novel about the life of the Lord "The Last Temptation of Christ". This book is the result of the author's religious and philosophical reflections, the main ideas of which are set out on its pages. The book on religion provoked a negative reaction from the Church and served as an occasion for discussion among critics. In general, it should be noted that the novel was positively received by the general public.
5. William's gripping novelHoward Hess's "Omensetter's Luck", which takes place in the city of Ohio in the 90s of the XX century, reveals to the reader a picture of the confrontation between a sympathetic person with a good heart and a reverend prone to outbursts of rage. The book was praised by critics and readers, who loved it because it deals with the eternal questions of love, life, good and evil.

The above books on religion help a person to look at the problems of faith from the point of view of the thoughts of authors who have devoted a lot of time to studying issues of religion and its place in human life.